News – Page 110 – Moortown Baptist Church

Fairtrade Fortnight – 25 February to 10 March

March 3, 2019February 24, 2019 by John Sherbourne

Here at MBC we marked the start of Fairtrade Fortnight by once again inviting Roger Robson and his Beehive team to hold a Fairtrade stall following our morning service. If you thought that buying Fairtrade and Traidcraft products was simply a way of restocking your chocolate drawer whilst at the same time doing a bit of good you’re selling the programme short; supporting Fairtrade and Traidcraft is participating in a long running, world wide campaign to bring about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world.

To underline the seriousness of the task in hand here’s an extract from the Fairtrade website: For two weeks each year, thousands of individuals, companies and groups across the UK come together to celebrate the people who grow our food, people who live in some of the poorest countries in the world and who are often exploited and badly paid. This year we are focusing on the people – in particular the women – who grow the cocoa in the chocolate we love so much.

£1.86 is the amount a cocoa farmer in West Africa needs to earn each day in order to achieve a living income. Currently, a typical cocoa farmer in Cote d’Ivoire lives on around 74p a day. Almost all cocoa farmers in West Africa live in poverty.

For the women the situation is even worse. They may plant and harvest on the farm, look after children, carry water, collect wood, cook and clean for the family, and transport the cocoa beans to market but often with fewer rights than men.

This is why we at Fairtrade are campaigning for a living income to become a reality for cocoa farmers in West Africa. If we can work together with governments, chocolate companies and retailers to make the commitments and policies necessary, then we can make it happen.

Roger will be running another Fairtrade stall here at MBC 0n Sunday March 31st which seems to me to be just about the right time and place to buy your Real Easter Eggs. In the meantime The Beehive will also be holding their annual coffee morning and Fairtrade Fair on Saturday 2 March at Chapel Allerton Methodist Centre between 10am and 12.30.

For more information about the Fairtrade movement, and particularly Fairtrade Fortnight visit their website at http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/en/get-involved/current-campaigns/Fairtrade-Fortnight

From March 3 there will be two Sunday morning services at MBC

February 26, 2019February 24, 2019 by John Sherbourne

This coming Sunday, March 3, we’re moving back to holding two Sunday morning services. The first at 9.30am will be 45 minutes of quiet worship, prayer and reflection. This will be followed at 10.45 by the more familiar model of our children and young people going out to their groups after half an hour or so while the rest of us stay together. Once again we’ll be freeing up some time at the end of this service for prayer, discussion and occasionally the odd “special” feature.

However, one important thing to mention is that unlike in January when on the third Sunday we held two Communion services, in March, on week three (that’s the 17th) there will be just one Communion service during the second service with the early service being replaced by a light church breakfast to which everyone is invited.

Theology and Culture: An African Perspective… Joe Kapolyo to deliver the 2019 Whitley lecture here at MBC

February 26, 2019February 24, 2019 by John Sherbourne

On Wednesday 6^th March, here at Moortown Baptist Church, Joe Kapolyo will be delivering the 2019 Whitley Lecture. He will be speaking on the subject of “Theology and Culture: An African Perspective.” From his experience and reflection Joe observes that the majority world is where the church is growing and explores the need for theology from the majority world to be respected and new and good thinking developed.

MBC is the seventh stop on this eight venue lecture tour. The event begins at 7.30pm and Joe will be basing his talk on the following abstract:

It is now an undeniable fact that, demographically speaking, the centre of gravity of Christianity has shifted to the southern continents from its traditional heartlands in Europe and America. This is at least the third time that such a shift has occurred. The first saw the Church base move from the Middle East centred on Jerusalem to Rome in Europe and then from Rome to northern Europe and America. It is anecdotally suggested that the average Christian at the moment is a thirty seven year old Ugandan woman. We celebrate these facts and rejoice in the Lord that the southern continents of Africa, Asia and Latin America will have the privilege of playing host in significant ways to the Christian faith.

The heart of the argument of this paper concerns the need for African (Asian and Latin American) cultures to yield their deposits of grace in the service of the Gospel and theology. We will argue that the traditional distinction between theology (which should rightly be named as European or Enlightenment theology) and its privileged position over against so called contextualised theologies is not only false but dangerous. At best this has been and continues to be an instrument of exclusion; excluding African (Asian and Latin American) cultures from serious theological discourse. At worst it is an act of arrogance and even oppression. But it is also an unnecessary self imposed limitation in that it resists the development of a theological culture that embraces all of God’s people on earth – the mosaic that represents every tribe, language and nation. Geologically, people mine precious minerals from the earth.

The miners do not create the deposits of copper, gold or diamonds; they simply exploit them for human benefit. Similarly, there are deposits of grace that God has left in every culture. These must be exposed and exploited in the service of theologies that will reflect the vast spread of humanity on earth, create new disciplines that will strengthen the Church and spur it on to fulfil the commission to go to all the nations of the world and make them disciples of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Joe Kapolyo is the recently retired Lead Minister at Edmonton Baptist Church, London. Previously he has served as Principal of All Nations Christian College; Principal of Theological College of Central Africa (TCCA), Ndola, Zambia; Pastor of Central Baptist Church (Harare, Zimbabwe); Pastor of Ndola Baptist Church (Zambia); Schools worker with Scripture Union Zambia.

He currently chairs on the Board of Ulting Trust Overseas and until August 2018 was a member of both the Baptist Union of Great Britain and the BUGB Trustees. Joe’s publications include ‘The Human Condition, Christian Perspectives through African Eyes’ in the Global Christian Library series, published by IVP and Matthew in the one-volume African Bible Commentary. Joe is married to Anne and they have two grown up daughters, and two grand children.

Night Shelter – April 15th to 29th

February 26, 2019February 23, 2019 by John Sherbourne

NIGHT SHELTER for destitute asylum seekers: is once again being hosted at Moortown Methodist church from Monday 15th April until Monday 29th April. This will be the fourth year that the project has been hosted as a joint venture between the CTMAS Churches.

There are many different jobs for volunteers, each requiring a varying amount of time and involvement to suit individuals/families. The main roles are:

Evening welcomers/hosts (6.00 – 10.00pm), Evening meal – provide & serve (6.30 – 8.30pm), Overnight (10.00pm – 7.00am) and Breakfast hosts (7.00 – 9.00am). Other roles include, setting up, laundry and possibly transport, and, of course, financial donations to support the work of the Night Shelters.

There will be an Information/Training session for volunteers at Moortown Methodist Church at 7.30pm on Monday 1st April. To volunteer or to seek further details, please contact Ted Britton on 07515 996871 or edward.britton@ntlworld.com.

In the meantime, please do mention the Night Shelter to your friends and ask if they would like to help in any way.

Riding Lights – The Narrow Road – Passion Play, Tuesday 16th April

February 26, 2019February 22, 2019 by John Sherbourne

“Amid the heat and beauty of ancient Palestine, a man stands on a dusty road. An extraordinary journey will take place, retracing the footsteps of Jesus through a world of miracles and madness, violence and liberation…..”

Riding Lights Theatre Company will be performing their Passion play ‘The Narrow Road’ here at MBC on Tuesday 16th April and tickets will be on sale shortly. However, in the meantime we are appealing for anyone who can offer overnight hospitality to one or two of the actors on the night of the performance. There will be five actors in total.

If you can help please see Kate.

“Spes durat avorum” – Let the hope of our ancestors endure – Graham’s blog

February 7, 2019February 5, 2019 by Graham Brownlee

The motto of the high school I attended in my youth was “spes durat avorum” which translated means “let the hope of our ancestors endure”.

Now as a teenager that never struck me as the most spiritually insightful or the most exciting motto one could have for a school. But looking back now I think it is one of the best.

My school was the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Hexham – now a High School – founded in 1599 by ancestors who had hope that in founding a school they would give greater opportunity for poor children; provide good education for a growing merchant and farming class in Northumberland, to extend learning to more children and as Good Queen Bess looked down on us in the dining hall – to make sure a good protestant grounding was shared by all.

In this sense the ancestors who founded my school hoped to bless children and society through education. It was a benevolent and charitable purpose. I imagine they expected the curriculum to equip the children to find employment and contribute to a flourishing and stable society.

Now many years on, what do we hope education will bestow on our children? Is the same as in 1599?

The needs of society and our understanding of education have certainly changed in 420 years. But I venture to say that we still have great ambition for learning. Yes, it is to gain knowledge, but it is also to gain wisdom and understanding. Not just to know stuff but to grasp why. I hope it includes shaping values with character and not just skills. I desire young people to be grounded as resilient people and not just prepared for a specific job or exam grade.

This is not an impractical hope, in fact it is thoroughly pragmatic and rational. I know that young people in school today will not have one career for their whole working life, they will have 2 or 3 at least – so they need to gain flexible tools for living through education. I also recognise that as we get older we become hardened and resistant in our values and character. The time to be formed is in our youth. So schools need space to develop, to explore and to practice values.

It is a challenge to blend practical and relevant education with the nurturing of character, values and resilience. But more than ever this is what we should offer our children. This is what I wish to bestow on future generations. This is what I hope we can find in our schools – primary, secondary and colleges alike.

The challenge and opportunity to shape character and nurture values is not one left to schools alone. It is a responsibility shared by communities and families too. So I hope for stronger partnership between families, churches, other institutions and schools for a better and fuller education.

It is an aspiration that demands all our efforts. I believe that to work together in new and innovative ways would be an outworking of the same dream that our ancestors had when they founded my school all those years ago.

In this way may the hope of our ancestors, who built education in this country endure.

Graham Brownlee, February 2019

Training course shows how and why safeguarding is a matter for all of us

February 4, 2019 by John Sherbourne

Over the last couple of Saturdays Margaret Brownlee has delivered two safeguarding training sessions to a total of more than sixty people. Based on the Baptist Union’s bespoke safeguarding programmes; Safe to Grow, which focuses on safeguarding children and young people and Safe to Belong which looks at safeguarding issues among adults the events were crammed with important information not only in regard to safeguarding those in your care but also to protecting yourself.

The BU website describes the purpose of this Level 2 training course as enabling people:

to have confidence in responding to safeguarding concerns about children, young people and adults at risk within the church and know what support is available if needed
to build a greater understanding of safeguarding and why it is important within the church context
to be aware of different types of abuse
to be champions in safeguarding

Here at MBC we appoint certain people to specific safeguarding roles; that’s a picture of our team above. So if anyone ever has any concerns please contact one of the team and pass on what ever it is that’s bothering you.

In fact that was the message Margaret repeated time and time again: “if something feels not quite right and it’s keeping you awake at night pass it on. Not however, to one of our ministers but to one of the safeguarding team.”

We have added direct links to both the Safe to Grow and Safe to Belong in the opening paragraph but for more information on safeguarding issues visit https://www.baptist.org.uk/ and follow the links to safeguarding.

Unpacking Sunday – coffee, bible study and prayer

February 4, 2019February 4, 2019 by John Sherbourne

A new bible study group that meets here at MBC on a Friday morning is growing in popularity. Starting at 9.30/9.45 ish with coffee and biscuits, and finishing around 11 this newly formed gathering devotes some but by no means all of its time to unpacking any issues that the previous Sunday’s sermon may have raised.

Last Sunday talking with Graham, David Vail, a regular attender, described the group as being very much like a daytime housegroup – somewhere where friendships are formed, the bible is read and prayer is shared.

Naturally it’s open to everyone so if you are free on a Friday morning pop in.

Please support Terefe as he returns to Calais with some much needed supplies

February 4, 2019February 3, 2019 by John Sherbourne

Pastor Terefe will be making another trip to Calais on 17th February. He is hoping to take items of clothing and practical goods to help those who are in the camps in Northern France.

He has requested the following: Mens clothing, adult sizes small and medium; women’s clothing adult sizes 10-12; dried food in packets (not tins); soap, toothpaste and feminine hygiene products.

If you can help, please bring the items to church on or before Sunday 17th February.

Thank you.

February 10, 17, 24 one morning service only!

February 4, 2019February 1, 2019 by John Sherbourne

At the church meeting on 22nd January, the church agreed to continue to develop our new pattern of Sunday morning services whilst moving ahead carefully.

Throughout February we are returning to the previous pattern of one service beginning at the usual time of 10.30am, while we take stock of what we will need by way of teams needed when we go back to holding two morning services in March.